Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an object information acquiring apparatus, a laser apparatus, and a medical apparatus.
Description of the Related Art
Lasers are utilized for a variety of applications such as industrial machining apparatuses, manufacturing apparatuses for semiconductor equipment, and treatment and diagnosis apparatuses for medical equipment. In recent years, solid lasers such as semiconductor lasers and fiber lasers have been significantly improved in characteristics. On the other hand, flash lamp pumped lasers are available as lasers particularly suitable for cosmetic and medical equipment for, for example skin treatment.
Flash lamp pumped solid lasers are characterized by providing high oscillation output per pulse. However, disadvantageously, degradation of a flash lamp may lead to an unstable laser output such as a reduced laser output.
An oscillation output from the laser varies according to the emission strength of the flash lamp, which depends on a voltage applied to the flash lamp. Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-284284 discloses a technique intended to stabilize the laser oscillation output by measuring the output value of emitted laser light and adjusting the voltage applied to the flash lamp in accordance with the output value.
Patent Literature 1: Japanese Patent Application Laid-open No. H11-284284